Wednesday, 26 May 2010

S as in Silver - abc Wednsday - S - Alphabe-Thursday S



Today is Wednesday and once again it is time to play my two favourite alphabet-memes, Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's abc-Wednesday and Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. This week both memes have the letter "S". Similar to the letter "R", there are lots and lots of S-words to choose from. After so many R-words last week, I have decided to try to limit myself to S-words that are related to my main subject, jewellery-making.



So my S-word is Silver, a precious metal that is widely used to make pieces of jewellery. Here we see a finger ring and a bangel that I made of sterling silver at a beginners' silver-smithing course that I took a year ago. Not very exciting? No. But I learned the basics of how to solder silver.



Until that time when I can afford to invest in silver-smithing equipment there are already good silver smiths who can do the kind of jewellery that I would like to be able to do one day. Take a look at Trudie Davies' ring here. You can order it with the name or words of your choice.



Isn't it pretty? That would be fun to do! Check out Trudie's blog and Etsy shop. Sorry, I can't seen to find a photo of Trudie Davies herself. (Found it!)

This is Trudie Davies

and not Anna!

Here is Trudie's blog button!

Trudie Davies Designs
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Before I leave the words "solder" and "soldering" I would like to add the word "seashells" and show a series of pictures from Tara Beaulieu of Scarborough Seashells, who has hade a giveway for a cute pair of silver-fitted seashell-earrings. Tara shows her work-process in soldering the silver framwork for the seashells. Take a look:






Take a peek at Tara's Etsy shop here.
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With the help of more jewellery-blogging friends, I would like to show other examples of how silver can be used. Here we see Karen Stahlecker of WillOaks Studio using silver necklace chains with different coloured stones:





Silver seems to go with everything. Take a closer look at Karen's Etsy shop to find out more about these beautiful neck-adornments.

and not Anna.
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Another clever and very skilled jewellery artist, who works with silver, is Lotta Knutar. Lotta lives a little closer to me here in Europe than Trudie who lives in Australia or Karen who lives in the United States. Lotta wraps silver wire when she makes her pieces of jewellery. Look at these earrings:



I wonder if you could wear Lotta's oxidised silver wire-wraped earrings with one of Karen's necklaces with the oxidised silver chain?


Visit Lotta Knutars Etsy shop
Silverknuten or check out her English language blog.

This is Lotta Knutar



and not Anna.
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Now, I'd like to show some silver pieces that I own, but have not made myself. Here are a couple of cute silver bracelets:



And this is a very old pin made out of silver and mountain chrystal, that my mother gave me last year. It was her grandmother's.




Last but not least, I would like to say something about the first round pin with the image of a spider at the top of this post. This beautiful piece of silver was owned by my maternal grandmother.


She wore it a lot and I am very proud to have it now. It is handmade of sterling silver in Sweden 1911 (see the year on the reverse side).


My S-words have been, "Silver", "Solder", "Seashells" and "Spider".

Wasn't that simple?!
Best wishes
Anna

Jenny    Matlock

For more S-words at Mrs. Nesbitt's abcWednesday please click here.
For more S-words at Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday please click here.


First Commenter:
Ann of Ann's Snap Edit & Scrap





Thursday, 20 May 2010

"R as in Rudabaga, Rabbit and Roses" - abc Wednesday, Round 6-R, Alphabe-Thursday-R

My own photo of one of our Easter rabbits.



Tiny rose brooch made by Maria Gower, London.


A simple pin of a pink rose that my mother gave my daughter.



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Let's face it. When you are dealing with me, you are dealing with a Swede. And this is what swedes look like! They are (swedes) yellow turnips that are also known as Rudabagas.

This week's letter is "R" and Rudabaga is one of my favourite R-words.

These are mashed turnips/rudabagas courtesy of Wikipedia


"R" is not a rare letter. Today is already Thursday and once again it is almost too late to play Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's abc-Wednesday and Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.

The letter "R" is one of those letters that I have really been looking forward to. There are so many really interesting R-words. Looking at the animal kingdom, there are rabbits


or rodents such as rats.

There are other furry beasts like raccoons
Raccoon photos from Wikipedia


or even larger animals with hoves like reindeer

There are unfurry creatures like rhinoceros

or reptiles, such as rattlesnakes.

Rattlesnake from Wikipedia


And two last animal-R-words are birds: raven and robin.
Raven and robin from Wikipedia


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Let us leave the animal kingdom and see what R-words there are to be found in the world of jewellery-making. The obvious and really one and only R-word for adornments is "ring". But since I do not make rings to sell in my shops at this time, I will just show some rings that I happen to own. There is nothing special about these rings other than the fact that my mother gave them to me and now they are a part of my private collection of fun things to wear that help me remember her. (Wow! Another R-word: "remember"!)

Now I would like to show you something of the work of two other jewellery-artists whom I admire. Last week I featured some lovely quartz-items made by Karen Stahlecker. Karen has agreed to let me show a pair earrings that she made with rhodolite garnets.

Aren't they beautiful? For those who might like to purchase these wonderful rhodolite garnet earrings, all you have to do to get to Karen's Etsy shop is to click here or on the image .
This is Karen Stahlecker

and not Anna.
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The other guest jewellery-artist is Maria Gower (Maria Gower of Maria Gower Designs and www.roseparadise.co.uk/) who made the rose pin in the photo that is third from top of this post. Maria makes incredibly true-to-nature/romantic floral jewellery for high-quality bridal pieces. Check out Maria's Etsy shop here.)

The brilliant detail of her roses is without exaggeration, simply amazing. I have reason to return to Maria's work in the near future.

To visit Maria Gower's shop please click here.

This is Maria Gower

And not Anna!
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There are some R-words that I would like to add before we part: Russian dolls!

Another R-word is "rune", which is a letter of the alphabet of northern Europe in ancient times. Here is a model of Sweden's largest, most famous runestone, Rokstenen, which is found in the parish of Rok, not too far from our farm. (The o in "Rok" has an umlaut.) Rok is also an R-word! (Read about it in Swedish here. Read about it in English here.)

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And since it is not the right time of year for roses, I would like to show you some wonderful rhododendon blooms from my neighbours' gardens:


Happy Rs to you all!
Anna
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P.S.
You have just read about and seen images for the following words that begin with the letter "R": rudabaga, rabbit, rose, rhesus monkey, rodent, rat, racoon, reindeer, red deer, rhinoseros, reptiles, rattlesnake, raven, robin, ring, remember,
rhodolite garnets, Russian dolls, rune, runestone, Rokstenen and rhododenron.

Jenny    Matlock

For more R-words at Mrs. Nesbitt's abcWednesday please click here.
For more R-words at Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday please click here.
Take a look at my very last extra R-word here.

First Commenter:
Brimful Curiosities



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